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Getting Threatening Emails from Manufacturer Companies??
 

So on Amaz0 n , now I get an email from someone claiming to be the Manufacturer of the product saying that my prices are too low and that I have to increase the minimum price. Anyone else get a similar threat email? Are you required to follow what they say??
***I lowered my prices significantly cus ODR Rate was too low on my account and now the manufacturer says I cant lower the price so much on the item...do they legally have the power to force such a thing?

Do you legally have the right to sell their product?

:spy:

Could be an unhappy competitor masquerading as the manufacturer, wouldn't be the first time this has happened. Ask for their company telephone number as you want to ring them to discuss their request.

If you can legally sell the product, I don't believe they have a legal right to set your price unless it was something you agreed to when purchasing the product.

In the US, you can sell anything at whatever price you want. However, it is not uncommon for manufacturers to set price minimums and/or the exact price of an item in their distribution contract. Their only recourse is to bar you from procuring more of their product. If your product is legit, somewhere along the line your product is coming from an authorized distributor and you are going to create problems for them which in turn will be passed on to you.

First step would be to verify that the person that contacted you is an actual representative of the manufacturer. If they are, it would be wise for you to comply

Email them back and ask for their contact information so you can contact them. You should know pretty early if it is sketchy or not. Some products do have minimum sell price like Apple, which are made in contacts. If I had to guess its a competitor who is losing a lot of sales.

doesnt sounds like a legit claim.. sounds like a comp just wanting you to raise you price

VERY important to do - how you verify the person is up to you OP but it could be competitor or real company.

Whenever an email like this appears ( either on amazon or ebay), you must always check the legitimacy of the sender as both FM88 & rsot stated.

Some toerag may try you out to convince you to do something incorrect.

There may be clues: is the email address 'business' or gmail/yahoo? How is the grammar in the text of the message. More than one thing to look at with these issues.
:ranger:

Yes its an item I bought in bulk at a clearance sale and 100% legit, but since the brand is for a smaller company with few employees I think they keep close track on Amaz0 n of their own product.

I google'd the person's name and found another person on Amaz0 n seller support Forum claiming the exact same email from the exact same person -- so whoever it is he is attacking a lot of the merchants on Amaz 0 n who sells his product. According to the thread created on Amaz 0 n , however, its called "MAP" (Minimum Applied Price) Policy and 100% legal for a Manufacturer to force an online seller to comply to the minimum price they set. I didnt know about this until now. It only applied to "NEW" products (not if you sell it as "USED - LIKE NEW" or any other non-NEW condition.
Anyone else familiar with this "MAP Policy" thing?


I called Amaz0 n and the rep told me that Amaz0 n sides with the Manufacturer in cases like this , no surprise since A maz0n hardly ever sides with the little guy, only big sellers. The rep said its allowed for Manufacturer to force the minimum price..

So Amazon has allowed the manufacturer to force a minimum price - you will have to meet that expectation.

As you discovered, you do not quite have the rights to sell. You have to fit in with the Manufacturer. They have covered THEIR rights with amazon.

Tricky situation. I would gather the item would not sell well elsewhere.
Be careful if you value your account

The reason why amazon sides with the manufacturer is because the manufacturer can ban their items from being sold on Amazon losing Amazon some business. There is nothing inherently illegal about under-cutting the MSRP.

I just found a wholesale website that has many product that are selling well on Amazon that I can buy and make a good profit. The problem is they told me they do not allow people to sell on Ebay or Amazon. However, when I search for their product on Amazon I can see they are selling it but many others are too. I would think that if they had the rights to it that they would be getting these sellers listings taken down. I'm going to buy a small amount of product and see how it goes.

It's probabley a competitor same thing happened to me. Told him to f*** off.

Resale price maintenance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Price floor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Actually, a manufacturer can set "Floor pricing."

Many manufacturers of perfume, sun glasses, etc... mostly high end stuff can enforce Minimum pricing strategies.

A few years ago a friend of mine sold sun glasses and I asked him about his pricing strategy. He told me there is a set price, he is not allowed to go lower than what the manufacturer allows.

So instead of a price reduction he would give away for Free items that were a compliment. Like a glass holder, cleaning solutions, etc...

If the manufacturer found out he was selling below price his distributorship would be canceled immediately.

I know that in 2007 or 2008 some new case law came about, so I'm not sure if this still applies today.

Roscoe is right on with the fact that manufacturers can enforce a price floor by cutting you off from selling their product. This really only applies to people who have a steady and legitimate supply chain. Those who don't, and everyone knows there is a lot of you on here, have nothing to worry about. There is no legal recourse.

But Roscoe's Wikipedia link sheds a lot of light on why so many of you are interested in selling below the price floor set by the manufacturer and why you have to do that to be successful on Ebay/Amazon. Ebay and Amazon are based on the concept of a highly competitive free market economy. In an exceedingly competitive free market, it is extremely hard to be successful selling above the equilibrium point.